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Monday, March 23, 2015

2.3.6. Francis Riddell (1866-1942)

Francis Riddell was born on 8 March 1866 in the village of Kirkton in East Kilbride Parish. His parents were John and Martha (Muir) Riddell and his father was a cement miner. He was Robert and Henrietta (Brown) Muir's 16th grandchild and was born three years before his grandfather's death.

In 1871 the family lived on Main Street in the village of East Kilbride. Francis' mother, Martha, died in 1876 and her husband never remarried. By 1881 Francis lived at home in East Kilbride and worked as a railway laborer.

He married Janet Kerr, who when by Jessie, on 23 December 1887 at 39 Ross Street in Hamilton. He was 21 years old, lived at the Royal Hotel on Bank Street in Airdrie and worked as a lorry driver, which hauled heavy goods. The couple had seven children over the course of their marriage.

In 1891 the family lived on 11 Hallcraig Street in New Monkland and Francis worked as a potato salesman. By 1901 the family had relocated to Hamilton where Francis would live for the remainder of his life. They lived at 28 Woodside Walk and Francis was a baker's van man, or delivery driver. Woodside Walk was street that terminated at the gates to the open woodland.

By 1901 the family had moved to Gertrude Cottage at 7 Scott Street in Hamilton and Francis' occupation was listed as confectioner. The valuation rolls for 1915 indicated Francis owned the cottage on Scott Street and a stable as well as two other houses, which he rented, at the same address. He was doing well for himself as he rented each of the two houses for 25 pounds annually, and the annual value of his home and stable was 30 pounds. By 1920 he had sold his two rental properties but remained at Gertrude Cottage.

Books about Allied Families

The story of the James Wilson family of Topsham, Maine, who came to the United States in 1719 and over 20,000 of his descendants, living and dead, including Martha Brodie, great granddaughter of Robert Muir.